1.
2nd millennium BC
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The 2nd millennium BC spans the years 2000 through 1000 BC. It marks the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age and its first half is dominated by the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and Babylonia. Indo-Iranian migration onto the Iranian plateau and onto the Indian subcontinent propagates the use of the chariot, chariot warfare and population movements lead to violent changes at the center of the millennium, a new order emerges with Greek dominance of the Aegean and the rise of the Hittite Empire. The end of the sees the transition to the Iron Age. World population begins to rise steadily, reaching some 50 million towards 1000 BC, the Pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and their contemporary Kings of Babylon, of Amorite origin, brought good governance without much tyranny, and favoured elegant art and architecture. Farther east, the Indus Valley civilization was in a period of decline, possibly as a result of intense, Egypt and Babylonias military tactics were still based on foot soldiers transporting their equipment on donkeys. Combined with an economy and difficulty in maintaining order, this was a fragile situation that crumbled under the pressure of external forces they could not oppose. About a century before the middle of the millennium, bands of Indo-European invaders came from the Central Asian plains and swept through Western Asia and they were riding fast two-wheeled chariots powered by horses, a system of weaponry developed earlier in the context of plains warfare. This tool of war was unknown among the classical civilizations, Egypt and Babylonias foot soldiers were unable to defend against the invaders, in 1630 BC, the Hyksos swept into the Nile Delta, and in 1595 BC, the Hittites swept into Mesopotamia. The peoples in place were quick to adapt to the new tactics, among the great states of the time, only Babylon refrained from taking part in battles, mainly due to its new position as the worlds religious and intellectual capital. Also contributing to the changes were the Sea Peoples, ship-faring raiders of the Mediterranean, the civilizations, kingdoms and dynasties in this section are organized according to the United Nations geoscheme The events in this section are organized according to the United Nations geoscheme. It is difficult to pinpoint the year or even the correct century for many events of the 2nd Millennium BC. c.1700 BC–1300 BC—Palace complex in Knossos. C.1600 BC–1360 BC Egyptian domination over Canaan and Syria, in the history of the Egyptian language, the early 2nd millennium saw a transition from Old Egyptian to Middle Egyptian. As the most used form of the Ancient Egyptian language. The earliest attested Indo-European language, the Hittite language, first appears in cuneiform in the 16th century BC, Hittite is the best known and the most studied language of the extinct Anatolian branch of Indo-European languages. The first Northwest Semitic language, Ugaritic, is attested in the 14th century BC, the first fully phonemic script Proto-Canaanite developed from Egyptian hieroglyphs, becoming the Phoenician alphabet by 1200 BC. Mycenaean Greek, the most ancient attested form of the Greek language, was used on the Greek mainland, Crete, the people in this section are organized according to the United Nations geoscheme The Canadian–American speculative fiction author S. M. Stirling has written a set in Bronze Age era, circa the 1250s BC

2.
Pylos
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Pylos, historically also known under its Italian name Navarino, is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is the seat and it was the capital of the former Pylia Province. It is the harbour on the Bay of Navarino. Nearby villages include Gialova, Pyla, Elaiofyto, Schinolakka, the town of Pylos has 2,767 inhabitants, the municipal unit of Pylos 5,287. The municipal unit has an area of 143.911 km2, Pylos has a long history, having been inhabited since Neolithic times. It was a significant kingdom in Mycenaean Greece, with remains of the so-called Palace of Nestor excavated nearby, named after Nestor, in Classical times, the site was uninhabited, but became the site of the Battle of Pylos in 425 BC, during the Peloponnesian War. Pylos is scarcely mentioned thereafter until the 13th century, when it became part of the Frankish Principality of Achaea, increasingly known by its French name of Port-de-Jonc or its Italian name Navarino, in the 1280s the Franks built the Old Navarino castle on the site. Pylos came under the control of the Republic of Venice from 1417 until 1500, the Ottomans used Pylos and its bay as a naval base, and built the New Navarino fortress there. It takes that name from the surrounding the place. A Greek one, Avarinos, later shortened to Varinos or lengthened to Anavarinos by epenthesis, in the late 14th/early 15th centuries, when it was held by the Navarrese Company, it was also known as Château Navarres, and called Spanochori by the local Greeks. Under Ottoman rule, the Turkish name was Anavarin, after the construction of the new Ottoman fortress in 1571/2, it became known as Neokastro among the local Greeks, while the old Frankish castle became known as Palaiokastro. The soil about Navarino is of a red colour, and is remarkable for the production of an abundance of squills, which are used in medicine. The remains of Navarino, consist of a fort, covering the summit of a hill sloping quickly to the south, the Gialova wetland is a regional blessing of nature. It is one of 10 major lagoons in Greece, and has been classified as one of the important bird areas in Europe. It has also listed as a 1500-acre archaeological site, lying between Gialova and the bay of Voidokilia. Its alternative name of Vivari is Latin, meaning fishponds and it is Gialova, too, which plays host to a vary rare species, nearing extinction throughout Europe, the African chameleon. Pylos has evidence of human presence dating back to the Neolithic Age. Bronze Age Pylos was excavated by Carl Blegen between 1939 and 1952 and it is located at modern Ano Englianos, about 9 km north-east of the bay 37. 028°N21. 695°E﻿ /37.028,21.695

3.
Boeotia
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Boeotia, sometimes alternatively Latinised as Beotia, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece and it was also a region of ancient Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, and its largest city is Thebes, Boeotia lies to the north of the eastern part of the Gulf of Corinth. It also has a coastline on the Gulf of Euboea. It bordered on Megaris in the south, Attica in the southeast, Euboea in the northeast, Opuntian Locris in the north and Phocis in the west. The main mountain ranges of Boeotia are Mount Parnassus in the west, Mount Helicon in the southwest, Cithaeron in the south and its longest river, the Cephissus, flows in the central part, where most of the low-lying areas of Boeotia are found. Lake Copais was a lake in the center of Boeotia. It was drained in the 19th century, lake Yliki is a large lake near Thebes. The earliest inhabitants of Boeotia, associated with the city of Orchomenus, were called Minyans, pausanias mentions that Minyans established the maritime Ionian city of Teos, and occupied the islands of Lemnos and Thera. The Argonauts were sometimes referred to as Minyans, also, according to legend the citizens of Thebes paid an annual tribute to their king Erginus. The early wealth and power of Boeotia is shown by the reputation and visible Mycenean remains of several of its cities, especially Orchomenus, the origin of the name Boeotians may lie in the mountain Boeon in Epirus. Some toponyms and the common Aeolic dialect indicate that the Boeotians were related to the Thessalians and they moved south and settled in another rich plain, while others filtered across the Aegean and settled on Lesbos and in Aeolis in Asia Minor. Others are said to have stayed in Thessaly, withdrawing into the hill country, many ancient Greek legends originated or are set in this region. The older myths took their form during the Mycenean age when the Mycenean Greeks established themselves in Boeotia. Many of them are related to the myths of Argos, and others indicate connections with Phoenicia, Boeotia was also notable for the ancient oracular shrine of Trophonius at Lebadea. Graea, an ancient city in Boeotia, is thought to be the origin of the Latin word Graecus, from which English derives the words Greece. The major poets Hesiod and Pindar were Boeotians, on the other hand, the lack of good harbours hindered its maritime development. The importance of the legendary Minyae has been confirmed by archaeological remains, the Boeotian population entered the land from the north possibly before the Dorian invasion

4.
Troy
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The present-day location is known as Hisarlik. It was the setting of the Trojan War described in the Greek Epic Cycle, in particular in the Iliad, a new capital called Ilium was founded on the site in the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus. It flourished until the establishment of Constantinople and declined gradually in the Byzantine era and these excavations revealed several cities built in succession. Troy VII has been identified with the city that the Hittites called Wilusa, the origin of the Greek Ἴλιον. Today, the hill at Hisarlık has given its name to a village near the ruins. It lies within the province of Çanakkale, some 30 km south-west of the provincial capital, the map here shows the adapted Scamander estuary with Ilium a little way inland across the Homeric plain. Troy was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1998, Ancient Greek historians variously placed the Trojan War in the 12th, 13th, or 14th centuries BC, Eratosthenes to 1184 BC, Herodotus to 1250 BC, Duris of Samos to 1334 BC. Modern archaeologists associate Homeric Troy with archaeological Troy VII, in the Iliad, the Achaeans set up their camp near the mouth of the River Scamander, where they had beached their ships. The city of Troy itself stood on a hill, across the plain of Scamander, recent geological findings have permitted the identification of the ancient Trojan coastline, and the results largely confirm the accuracy of the Homeric geography of Troy. In November 2001, the geologist John C, kraft from the University of Delaware and the classicist John V. Luce from Trinity College, Dublin, presented the results of investigations, begun in 1977, into the geology of the region. Besides the Iliad, there are references to Troy in the major work attributed to Homer. The Homeric legend of Troy was elaborated by the Roman poet Virgil in his Aeneid, the Greeks and Romans took for a fact the historicity of the Trojan War and the identity of Homeric Troy with the site in Anatolia. Alexander the Great, for example, visited the site in 334 BC and there made sacrifices at tombs associated with the Homeric heroes Achilles and Patroclus. After the 1995 find of a Luwian biconvex seal at Troy VII, with the rise of critical history, Troy and the Trojan War were, for a long time, consigned to the realms of legend. However, the location of ancient Troy had from classical times remained the subject of interest. The Troad peninsula was anticipated to be the location, leChavaliers location, published in his Voyage de la Troade, was the most commonly accepted theory for almost a century. In 1822, the Scottish journalist Charles Maclaren was the first to identify with confidence the position of the city as it is now known, the hill, near the city of Çanakkale, was known as Hisarlık. In 1868, Heinrich Schliemann visited Calvert and secured permission to excavate Hisarlık, in 1871–73 and 1878–79, he excavated the hill and discovered the ruins of a series of ancient cities dating from the Bronze Age to the Roman period

5.
Zhou dynasty
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The Zhou dynasty was a Chinese dynasty that followed the Shang dynasty and preceded the Qin dynasty. This period of Chinese history produced what many consider the zenith of Chinese bronze-ware making, the dynasty also spans the period in which the written script evolved into its almost-modern form with the use of an archaic clerical script that emerged during the late Warring States period. He even received sacrifice as a harvest god, the term Hòujì was probably an hereditary title attached to a lineage. Jus son Liu, however, led his people to prosperity by restoring agriculture and settling them at a place called Bin, tai later led the clan from Bin to Zhou, an area in the Wei River valley of modern-day Qishan County. Taibo and Zhongyong had supposedly fled to the Yangtze delta. Jilis son Wen bribed his way out of imprisonment and moved the Zhou capital to Feng, the Zhou enfeoffed a member of the defeated Shang royal family as the Duke of Song, which was held by descendants of the Shang royal family until its end. This practice was referred to as Two Kings, Three Reverences, according to Nicholas Bodman, the Zhou appear to have spoken a language not basically different in vocabulary and syntax from that of the Shang. A recent study by David McCraw, using lexical statistics, reached the same conclusion, the Zhou emulated extensively Shang cultural practices, perhaps to legitimize their own rule, and became the successors to Shang culture. At the same time, the Zhou may also have connected to the Xirong, a broadly defined cultural group to the west of the Shang. According to the historian Li Feng, the term Rong during the Western Zhou period was used to designate political and military adversaries rather than cultural. The proto-Zhou were first located in the Shaanxi-Shanxi highland, where they absorbed elements from the Guangshe culture, King Liu moved his people to the lower Fen Valley and to the western bank of the Yellow River, where they resumed agriculture. His son Qing Jie, led the Zhou to the valley of the Jing River. They stayed there until Dan Fu moved again to the Wei Valley in order to avoid incursion by the Rongdi nomads. During this period, the Zhou mingled with the Qiang people, in all these stages, the advanced Shang bronze culture constantly imparted its influence on the Zhou. The Qi area was the region in all these influences would come to fruition. The contact among the proto-Zhou, the native Shaanxi Longshan, the Qiang, King Wu maintained the old capital for ceremonial purposes but constructed a new one for his palace and administration nearby at Hao. Although Wus early death left a young and inexperienced heir, the Duke of Zhou assisted his nephew King Cheng in consolidating royal power. Wary of the Duke of Zhous increasing power, the Three Guards, Zhou princes stationed on the eastern plain, to maintain Zhou authority over its greatly expanded territory and prevent other revolts, he set up the fengjian system

6.
Jizi
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Jizi or Qizi was a semi-legendary Chinese sage who is said to have ruled Gija Joseon in the 11th century BCE. Early Chinese documents like the Book of Documents and the Bamboo Annals described him as a relative of the last king of the Shang dynasty who was punished for remonstrating with the king. After Shang was overthrown by Zhou in the 1040s BCE, he allegedly gave political advice to King Wu, Chinese texts from the Han dynasty onwards claimed that King Wu enfeoffed Jizi as ruler of Chaoxian. According to the Book of Han, Jizi brought agriculture, sericulture, starting in the late thirteenth century, Gija was fully integrated into Korean history, being described as a successor to the descendants of Dangun in the state of Old Joseon. Shin Chaeho questioned the extent of Gijas cultural contributions, in part because Gija, postwar Korean scholars in both North and South Korea have also strongly criticized the story of Gijas migration to Korea in the eleventh century BCE. His family name was Zi/Ja and given name was Xuyu/Suyu, the earliest known mention of Jizi is in the Mingyi 明夷 hexagram of the Book of Change. Some identify him as Grand Tutor of the king, Jizi was either imprisoned or enslaved for remonstrating against King Zhous misrule. After Shang was overthrown by the Zhou dynasty in the mid eleventh century BC, Jizi was released by King Wu, to whom he gave advice on how to rule the new polity. These texts mention neither Joseon nor Jizis descendants, they simply describe Jizi as a man who was trusted by King Wu of Zhou after having been mistreated by the last Shang king. The first texts that make a connection between Jizi and Joseon date from the second century BC, under the Han dynasty. The earliest known source stating that Jizi went to Joseon is the Shangshu dazhuan, in that account, King Wu enfeoffed Jizi as the ruler of Joseon and Jizi became the subject of King Wu. In a similar story recorded in Sima Qians Records of the Grand Historian, Jizi was enfeoffed by King Wu but did not become his subject. Sima Qian did not mention Jizi in his section on contemporary Joseon, thus the location of Joseon as in these earlier sources is not clear. Among Han-Dynasty sources, the Han shi waizhuan mentions to Jizi, the Monograph on Geography of the Book of Han claims that Jizi had taught the people of Joseon agriculture, sericulture, and weaving, as well as proper ceremony. Jae-hoon Shim interprets the following sentence in that section of the Hanshu as claiming that Jizi also introduced the law of Eight Prohibitions in Joseon. The Records of Three Kingdoms claims that the descendants of Jizi reigned as kings of Joseon for forty generations until they were overthrown by Wei Man, a man from the state of Yan, in 194 BC. According to his commentary to the Shiji, Du Yu states that the tomb of Jizi was located in Meng Prefecture of the State of Liang and this suggests that the story of Jizis association with Joseon was not necessarily prevailing although the narrative seen in the Hanshu later became common. As historian Jae-hoon Shim concludes, only during the Han dynasty did Jizi begin to be associated with Joseon, only in the thirteenth century did Korean texts start to integrate Gija more fully into Korean history

7.
13th century BC
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The 13th century BC was the period from 1300 to 1201 BC.1300 BC, Cemetery H culture comes to an end in the Indus Valley. 1292 BC, End of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, start of the Nineteenth Dynasty,1282 BC, Pandion II, legendary King of Athens, dies after a nominal reign of 25 years. He reportedly only reigned in Megara while Athens and the rest of Attica were under the control of an alliance of Nobles led by his uncle Metion and his four sons lead a successful military campaign to regain the throne. Aegeus becomes King of Athens, Nisos reigns in Megara, Lykos in Euboea,1279 BC, Ramesses II becomes leader of Ancient Egypt. 1278 BC, Seti I dies,1 year after his son,1274 BC, The Battle of Kadesh in Syria. Egyptians and Hittites sign the earliest known peace treaty at the end of the Battle of Kadesh,1269 BC, Ramses II, king of ancient Egypt, and Hattusilis III, king of the Hittites, sign the earliest known peace treaty. 1251 BC, A solar eclipse on this date might mark the birth of legendary Heracles at Thebes,1250 BC, Wu Ding King of Shang Dynasty to 1192 BC.1250 BC, The Lion Gate at Mycene is constructed. C.1230 BC, Aegeus, legendary King of Athens, receives a message that his designated heir Theseus. Theseus had been sent to his overlord Minos of Crete as an offering to the Minotaur, medus, Aegeus only other son, had been exiled in Asia and would become legendary ancestor to the Medes. Believing himself without heirs the King commits suicide after a reign of 48 years and he is succeeded by Theseus, who actually still lives. The Aegean Sea is reportedly named in his honor,1210 BC, Pharaoh Merneptah defeats a Libyan invasion. 1213 BC, Theseus, legendary King of Athens, is deposed and succeeded by Menestheus, great-grandson of Erechtheus, Menestheus is reportedly assisted by Castor and Polydeuces of Sparta, who want to reclaim their sister Helen from her first husband Theseus. The latter seeks refuge in Skyros, whose King Lycomedes is an old friend, Lycomedes, however, considers his visitor a threat to the throne and proceeds to assassinate him. 1212 BC, Death of Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses the Great,1207 BC, Pharaoh Merneptah claims a victory over the people of Israel. 1206 BC, Approximate starting date of Bronze age collapse, a period of migration, unrest and destruction in the eastern Mediterranean and Near East. 1204 BC, Theseus, legendary King of Athens, is deposed after a reign of 30 years and succeeded by Menestheus, great-grandson of Erichthonius II of Athens and second cousin of Theseus father Aegeus. Menestheus is reportedly assisted by Castor and Polydeuces of Sparta, who want to reclaim their sister Helen from her first husband Theseus, Theseus seeks refuge in Skyros, whose King Lycomedes is an old friend and ally. Lycomedes, however, considers his visitor a threat to the throne, C.1200 BC, Earliest writing that survived exists in Ancient China

8.
11th century BC
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The 11th century BC comprises all years from 1100 BC to 1001 BC. Although many human societies were literate in this period, some of the individuals mentioned below may be rather than historically accurate. 1089 BC, Melanthus, legendary King of Athens, dies after a reign of 37 years and is succeeded by his son Codrus,1069 BC, Ramses XI dies, ending the Twentieth Dynasty. He is succeeded by Smendes I, who founds the Twenty-first Dynasty,1068 BC, Codrus, legendary King of Athens, dies in battle against Dorian invaders after a reign of 21 years. Athenian tradition considers him the last King to have absolute power. Modern historians consider him the last King whose life account is part of Greek mythology and he is succeeded by his son Medon. 1050 BC, Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant from Israel in battle,1048 BC, Medon, King of Athens, dies after a reign of 20 years and is succeeded by his son Acastus. 1046 BC, King Wu of Zhou overthrows the last Shang Dynasty King Di Xin,1044 BC, On the death of Smendes I, king of Egypt, he is succeeded by two co-regents, Psusennes I and Neferkare Amenemnisu. 1042 BC, King Cheng of Zhou succeeds King Wu as ruler of the Zhou Dynasty in China, C.1040 BC, David, King of Israel, is born. 1039 BC, Neferkare Amenemnisu, king of Egypt, dies, C.1020 BC, Destruction of Troy VIIb2. 1026 BC, Saul the King becomes the first king of the Israelites,1020 BC, King Kang of Zhou succeeds King Cheng as ruler of the Zhou Dynasty in China. 1012 BC, Acastus, King of Athens, dies after a reign of 36 years and is succeeded by his son Archippus,1003 BC, David succeeds Saul the King. 1000s BC, Earliest evidence of farming in the Kenya highlands, C.1000 BC, Latins arrive in Italy. C.1000 BC, Archaeological evidence obtained from inscriptions excavated in 2005 dates the Tamil language, see, List of sovereign states in the 11th century BC

A lacquerware painting from the Jingmen Tomb (Chinese: 荊門楚墓; Pinyin: Jīngmén chǔ mù) of the State of Chu (704–223 BC), depicting men wearing precursors to Hanfu (i.e. traditional silk dress) and riding in a two-horsed chariot